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Just off Meraviglia and loved it !!!


tomlin
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Hi, I'm a bit of a stalker rather than a poster on these boards. I disembarked MSC Meraviglia yesterday in Barcelona and just wanted to give my opinion on this fantastic ship.

Bit of background, myself and my husband are absolute cruise addicts. We started cruising about 10 years ago and have been lucky enough to have been on over 30 cruises. We sailed on the Preziosa last year around the Mediterranean and loved everything about it. We booked a 5 night cruise on the Meraviglia embarking in Genoa. The ports were Naples, Messina, Malta a sea day and then Barcelona. We stayed in an inside cabin on deck 11, the cabin was lovely and certainly bigger than other inside cabins we have stayed in. The ship is absolutely wonderful, definately the best ship we have ever sailed on. The staff and entertainment were top both excellent, you certainly are never short of things to do. We ate in Waves restaurant on the late 9.00 pm sitting. The food I have to say was good but we preferred the food on MSC Preziosa. Yes there are a few teething problems, this seems mainly due to all dining and food orders being taken on i pads. The staff were still getting used to this new system and sometimes the computers crashed and orders had to be taken manually. I can honestly say I was sad to leave the ship yesterday, I would of loved to have stayed on this wonderful ship another week.....

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Tomlin, please, please, explain us everything!!

Have you experienced long queues for dinner, disembark???

Have you seen any show? Cirque du Soleil?

 

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We stayed in an inside cabin on deck 11, the cabin was lovely and certainly bigger than other inside cabins we have stayed in.

 

Glad you had such a wonderful trip. Thanks for the info about the inside cabins. I know it says 172 sq ft online (and I booked a 21 day b2b based on the size), but one never knows if the info is correct. Did the room have Pullman's on the wall or in the ceiling? Maybe you had one with the double sofa bed.

Thanks for joining the action with your review.

 

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Oops, it wasn't finished yet ... [emoji51]

There was sunbeds for everyone who wanted them?

Buffet was really open 20 hours???

Do you think there are more "asterisked" drinks this year?

I've forgotten the rest of my questions... [emoji28]

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Glad you had such a wonderful trip. Thanks for the info about the inside cabins. I know it says 172 sq ft online (and I booked a 21 day b2b based on the size), but one never knows if the info is correct. Did the room have Pullman's on the wall or in the ceiling? Maybe you had one with the double sofa bed.

Thanks for joining the action with your review.

 

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The double sofa beds...

b7b126c583a89486029422305fcf9bc7.jpg

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Hi,

We have been to all the ports previously so really booked the cruise for the ship, although we did get off the ship at all the ports and just walked around. We didn't eat at any of the speciality restaurants. When we did pass them they did seem quiet.

Disembarkation was an issue that I'm sure MSC will address. Our first port Naples was a 2.00pm arrival time, this resulted in massive crowds all wanting to leave at the same time, there was only one gangway open. We waited a while for the queues to lessen but were still in line for an hour to get off. Barcelona was also a problem, they give the coloured tags with a time to leave. We had a flight home at 12.30 so got red tags for the earliest time 9.15 am, ( same as elite etc) they told us to stick the reciept on our cruise card to show at the gangway and to watch the tv screens ( there is no set place to wait to be called off like other cruises I've been on ) When the ship docked at 9.00 it was total madness, I asked if there was only the one exit and was told yes. I went to one of the staff trying to control the madness and tried to explain we had a flight to catch, he just shrugged his shoulders. We ended up jumping in the queue, I felt bad but we would have never got to the airport. Again I'm sure MSC will get lots of feedback about this and will improve the system.

I was surprised that Cirque du Soleil was on, I was told it didn't start until July, I did see people booking on the large interactive screens and I heard it booked up quickly. We did see a theatre show called Way which was excellent.

Our inside cabin did not have a pullman bed or a sofa, there was less storage space than any other ship I've been on so I would travel as light as you can.

The buffet was open long hours but the food was restricted at times, pizza seemed to be available all the time.

Sunbeds were an issue on the sea day but that is the same on a sea day on any ship. We managed to get one but I think you would struggle to find one after 9-10.

I think there are more asterisk drinks, my husband drinks beer and he had Corona and Peroni on the drinks package last year on the Preziosa, this time the only bottled beer available ( lager type) was Heineken. People we spoke to said there was a much better choice in the English pub. I drink wine and the wine on the package was very nice.

Hope I've answered all your questions. As I said before there are teething problems but that is to be expected. The ship is spectacular

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Thanks so much for your review, sounds like you had a great time, really starting to get excited now. Did you happen to go to the Sports bar? Just wondering if the food is complementary there and what types of things they serve? Do you know if there is anywhere else onboard you are able to pick up a quick meal/snack at no xtra cost other than MDR or buffet?

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Anna40 - is this what is considered the double sofa bed in the balcony cabins? We are booked on Seaside and took an inside because the boy and girl teens of course won't be sleeping in the same bed. Wonder if this is what will be on the new ships. Thanks for any information.

 

 

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Wow Tomlin, many many thanks for answering all my questions!!!

 

I expect MSC will fix the queue problem. We travel with my Dd who is wheelchair user, and I'm a bit scared with these crowds!!

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Anna40 - is this what is considered the double sofa bed in the balcony cabins? We are booked on Seaside and took an inside because the boy and girl teens of course won't be sleeping in the same bed. Wonder if this is what will be on the new ships. Thanks for any information.

 

 

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I don't know about Seaside, but this pic is taken in a balcony in Meraviglia. And it seems that all the double sofa beds in all type of cabins are that way...

 

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Thanks Tomlin this is great info.

 

Interesting reading about disembarkation. We've got a similar problem with flights home. We booked ages ago before actual timings were released and was hoping the ship would arrive in Barcelona a lot earlier than that and start disembarkation a lot earlier. Looks like we might have to get the red tags and camp at the exit? Whereabouts was the exit on the ship and once off, how long did it take to get off and to the airport?

 

Many thanks

Jon

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Again, thanks, tomlin. We will be happy with no intrusive Pullman's. When we booked, the info said occupancy for 4 so we set up for split twins. I've read other info about storage. DH is happy to have lighter luggage. We each take one that will usually store under the bed.

ANNA40, thanks for the pic. That looks like a brilliant design.

 

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Some more photos just for now. I really haven't time for much else as we're having such a great time with some wonderful folk we've met onboard. Whatever I don't get to answer I'll tackle when I get home.

 

Today's lunch menu

 

427f35de10d79c18fb9c0695a561e364.jpg

 

683585839af30c9c69696cd3134466f6.jpg

 

da94426c4b94b57232b85560a1a8fa5f.jpg

 

Tempura vegetables - they were really tasty! A hint of curry and fiery spices

 

7aceb77ce7ce63516e4e0cb0856bbb95.jpg

 

Mango cheesecake that I'm just about to tuck into!

 

Ciao for now from the wonderful Meraviglia.q

 

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thanks for taking time to give all of us your review since some of us are not cruising on "The Wonder'" for quite some time. We are next March 2018.

Hi, I'm a bit of a stalker rather than a poster on these boards. I disembarked MSC Meraviglia yesterday in Barcelona and just wanted to give my opinion on this fantastic ship.

Bit of background, myself and my husband are absolute cruise addicts. We started cruising about 10 years ago and have been lucky enough to have been on over 30 cruises. We sailed on the Preziosa last year around the Mediterranean and loved everything about it. We booked a 5 night cruise on the Meraviglia embarking in Genoa. The ports were Naples, Messina, Malta a sea day and then Barcelona. We stayed in an inside cabin on deck 11, the cabin was lovely and certainly bigger than other inside cabins we have stayed in. The ship is absolutely wonderful, definately the best ship we have ever sailed on. The staff and entertainment were top both excellent, you certainly are never short of things to do. We ate in Waves restaurant on the late 9.00 pm sitting. The food I have to say was good but we preferred the food on MSC Preziosa. Yes there are a few teething problems, this seems mainly due to all dining and food orders being taken on i pads. The staff were still getting used to this new system and sometimes the computers crashed and orders had to be taken manually. I can honestly say I was sad to leave the ship yesterday, I would of loved to have stayed on this wonderful ship another week.....

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JonHeath, I too thought that the ship would be ready to disembark long before 9.00. There was a Thomson ship entering the port in front of us and it looked like we had to wait until it was clear. There was only one exit on the main promenade, we asked about five different mebers of staff if this was the only exit and was it for everyone and they all said it was. Our flight home was at 12.30, once we managed to disembark there was a fairly short queue for taxis and we got to the airport about 10.45. If we hadn't of jumped the queue we probably wouldn't have made it. I'm sure that the problem will be sorted, maybe going back to the old system where passengers wait to be called in designated lounges etc is a better solution. What time is your flight?

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JonHeath, I too thought that the ship would be ready to disembark long before 9.00. There was a Thomson ship entering the port in front of us and it looked like we had to wait until it was clear. There was only one exit on the main promenade, we asked about five different mebers of staff if this was the only exit and was it for everyone and they all said it was. Our flight home was at 12.30, once we managed to disembark there was a fairly short queue for taxis and we got to the airport about 10.45. If we hadn't of jumped the queue we probably wouldn't have made it. I'm sure that the problem will be sorted, maybe going back to the old system where passengers wait to be called in designated lounges etc is a better solution. What time is your flight?

 

Hi Tomlin. Thanks for replying. Our flight is at 10:50...yeah, ooops. Like I said we booked ages ago before timings. I just assumed wrongly that the ship would be in much earlier (5-7am) as they need to disembark. We can move onto a later flight on the same day at a cost. No massive deal, not a lot else we can do really.

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Anna ......... the issues last week were the fault of the port authorities. We received a letter of apology the next day stating that Meraviglia was allowed only 2 exits which caused considerable problems. We had thought it odd that we had to battle with those disembarking when we tried to get to the YC tent when we originally arrived at the terminal

 

 

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